Car-brake



(No Model.)

W. L. CHAMBERS.

GAR BRAKE.

Patented Novy, 188,1.

WITNBSSBS .j 45M ATTORNEYS..

UNITED STATES ,PATENT OFFICE,

WILLIAM L. CHAMBERS, F PLEASANT UNITY, PENNSYLVANTA. l

CAR-BRAKE.

y SIEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 249,302, dated November 81881..

- Application tiled August 6, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concer-n:

Be it known that I, WM. LATTA CHAMBERS, vof Pleasant Unity, in the'county of Westmoreland and State ot'Pennsylvania,have invented a new and Improved Oar-Brake; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specication, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, an inverted plan view, and Fig. 3 is a vertical crosssecton through the line w w of Figs. l and 2.

My invention relates to certain improvements in car-brakes of that form in which the brakes, instead of being applied to the wheels, are applied directly to the rails; and my improvement consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement ot' the said brakes, and in the `peculiar construction' and arrangement of a bellows for applying the brakes by means 4 of compressed air, as hereinafter more'fully described.

In the drawings, A represents the body of a car each of whose trucks is equipped with myv i vertical movement between the guides a a byl a tongued-and-grooved connection with the guides, so that they cannot get displacedor out of their proper position. The brake-shoes c rest immediately above the rails, and have "on their lower sides facing-strips d, of steel or hardened metal, which are made detachable from the shoes, so as to be readily removed when worn orbroken and another one substituted. For securing these hard facings to the shoe they are `bent .up around 'the ends of the shoe and fastened thereto b v screws or bolts, as shown. l

For depressing the brake-shoes of each truck and bringing them simultaneously against the track the tops of each slide b of the truck are connected by a horizontal bar, E, extending across the truck, which bar is loosely connected to one end of an elbow-lever, C, which is fnlcrumed in a bearing attached to the main crossbar of the truck, and the vertical arm of which elbow-lever in each truck is connected to the are attached to the latter at their ends, so as` to raise the cross-bars and the attached slides and brakeshoes whenever the pressure is relieved.

For exerting the pull upon the rods D D', I may use Jany known mechanical devices. I have devised a construction for this purpose, however, which I consider specially desirable. The pull-rods are attached to the opposite ends of ahorizontal lever, G, which is fulcrumed about its middle `in a bracket, H, attached to the bottom of the car, the bracket being slotted where it receives the fulcrum-pin of the said lever, so that the -pull uponboth rods D and D' shall be equal and a uniform pressure transmitted to the two trucks of the car.-

To one end of the lever Gr is attached a linkrod, e, whose other end is connected to a yokeframe, f. Within this yoke-frame is contained Va cylindrical or other form of bellows, I, working horizontally and longitudinally with the car. One ofthe heads ofthe bellows gis hanged and secured to the bottom of the car, and is perforated also, to receive andform' guides for the rods ot' the yoke-framef. The other head, h', ofthe bellows is provided with ears that are rigidly attached to the yoke-frame, while the ends ofthe latter project through and are guided by a plate, t', attached to the bottom ot' the car. The body of the bellows is made of leather or other suitable material. rOpening into the interior'of this bellows through the stationary head is a pipe, J, having a flexible connection, K, couplingronto a pipe running t'o the engine, and connecting with a compressed-air cylinder, so that when compressed air is admitted the bellows is lengthened out and the brakes applied.

Instead of applying the brakes by compressed air, the apparatus may be reversed, so as to secure the same result by an exhaustion of air from the bellows.

IOO

In making use of the bellows as thus described, also, I do not confine myself to its use in connection with the particular form of brake described; but I may employr it to apply any form of brake. Y

With respect to the mechanism for applying the brakes to the rail, I would state that I am aware that brake-blocks have been arranged to slide vertically in guides in the plane ot' the two wheels of a truck, and that these brakeblocks have been connected in pairs by a bar running crosswise the track, near their lower ends, which bar is forced Vdownwardly to apply the brakes by a pair of toggle-arms above it. My construction differs from this, in that the brake-shoes have sliding stems b, which are connected at their tops by the bar E, and between which bar E and the truck-bar B a ilat spring, F, is placed, while an elbow-lever, C, is used for depressing bar E. This construction removes the brake mechanism as far as possible above the level of the track and keeps it out of the way of snow and other obstruction; I ain also aware that a bellows has heretofore been used to apply the brakes, and do not claim this broadly.

Having lthus described my invention, what I claim as new isl. The combination of the brakeshoes c, having vertical sliding stems b, the vertical guides a a, the cross-bar E, connected to the tops of the stems of the two brake-shoes of each truck, the'trnckbar B, the spring F, interposed between bars E and B,'and the elbow-lever G, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of the lever G and the brake mechanism, the rod e, the bellows I, having fixed head g, with guideholes, the yokeframe j', passing through said guide-holes, and the movable head h of the bellows, attached to the yoke-framef, substantially as and for the purpose described.

WILLIAM LATTA CHAMBERS. Witnesses:

ELI CHAMBERS, HUGH L. LEBLING. 

